Thursday, February 19, 2015

Based on the map that was used during Operation Protection Edge this past summer to warn the populace of in-coming rockets/missiles, this map was created which is the one that would be used if, as presumed, Hamas comes to rule Judea and Samaria once Israel retreats/withdraws:

The legend, at the top left reads:Immediate15 Seconds30 Seconds45 SecondsOne MinuteA minute and a halfThree minutesEverthing clear?(thanks to GS)^

Sunday, February 15, 2015

US President Barack Obama has denounced the killing of the Jewish guard shot by a Muslim in Copenhagen, Denmark as a "brutal and outrageous murder". In a statement, Mr Obama said no one should be targeted for "what they look like" or "how they worship".

Oh, sorry, I mixed things up.This is what he said after criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over Obama's silence on the killing of three Muslims:

US President Barack Obama has denounced the killing of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as "brutal and outrageous murders". In a statement, Mr Obama said no one in the US should be targeted for "what they look like" or "how they worship".

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Israeli Municipality of West Jerusalem set up, on Wednesday, a sign reading “Temple Mount”, in reference to the nearby al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The sign, which was placed near Al Nather Gate, was made available in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English, according to WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency.

Jews refer to the site as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it as the site of two Jewish temples destroyed in ancient times. The site is home to the third holiest mosque in Islam, and houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The site is located in occupied East Jerusalem, taken by Israel from Jordan in 1967, but under an agreement to keep the site under Jordanian jurisdiction.

The Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department, which has administrative jurisdiction over the compound, said the hanging of a sign featuring the term “Temple Mount” instead of the internationally recognized Islamic term, Al-Aqsa Mosque, is nothing but an attempt to “Judaise” the holy site and the city of Jerusalem.

Ambassador of Jordan to Israel Walid Ubeidat on Wednesday visited the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem where he was hosted by director of the Jerusalem office of the Palestinian Ministry of Endowment Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib. Ubeidat toured the al-Aqsa compound accompanied by Sheikh al-Khatib and other officials and met with chairman of the Jerusalem council of endowment Sheikh Abd al-Atheem Salhab.

Palestinian worshipers chanted "Allah Akbar", or "God is Great", as a small group attempted to perform religious rituals in the compound. Another group of Jewish students sat on the ground and raised the victory sign with their hands before begin escorted out of the area by Israeli police, witnesses added.

All they want to do is approach God, find spirituality, fulfill their lawful rights, halt illegal damage to historical and archaeological remains and seek coexistence.

After due consideration, I felt that the children being used in the Islamist anti-Jewish campaign at the Temple Mount is an issue that international and local pro-children organizations should be addressing.

And so, I challenged them to get involved.Here's my letter to them:

To Whom It May Concern,

Recently, extremist Islamic groups have harnessed into their
activities to prevent freedom of access to and the freedom of worship of Jews
within the Temple Mount compound underage children. They employ these children to engage in
actions of provocation such as coming into close proximity with Jews, standing
in their way to obstruct their progress while walking in the area, screaming
and yelling at them, waving their arms, shouting out slogans, using insulting
language and other forms of activity.
All this can lead to the children being arrested or harmed by police.

In doing this, the adults involved are unfairly and
immorally taking advantage of the children, keeping them out of school, abusing
them, maltreating and endangering them.
They are forcing the children to be placed in situations that can result
in violence.

In response to your letter of February 10, I would like to share with you an article we wrote on the subject of the use of children for the purpose of terror and war.The article was translated to a number of languages by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was distributed around the world.Sincerely,Elizabeth LevyDirector of International Relations

This study focused on the faunal remains (N = 3618) retrieved from three strata unearthed above the Second Temple-period stone-paved road along the southern part of the western wall of the Temple Mount. The three strata date to the Early Roman (first century BCE and first century CE–70 CE; Stratum 4), the Late Roman–Byzantine (second–sixth centuries CE; Stratum 3) and the Early Islamic (seventh–eighth centuries CE; Stratum 2) periods. The faunal remains from the Early Roman period reflect the large amounts of waste created by the various populations in the city, with a predominance of Jewish pilgrims. Following the destruction of the city in 70 CE, the ethnic identity of the population changed, and pagans, related to the Roman army, and later, Christians, inhabited the city. This transition is clearly manifested in the faunal remains, which reflect the dietary and cultic habits of the population. At the outset of the Early Islamic period, the local population changed again, and the transition from Christian to Muslim population is apparent in the faunal evidence.

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this afternoon (Thursday, 5 February 2015),
with King Abdullah II of Jordan. ..The Prime Minister noted the importance of
the Jordanian ambassador's return to Israel and of the joint commitment to
maintaining the status quo at the holy sites.

Joint?

Really?

Exactly how?

Does Jordan respect the Jewish claim to the Temple Mount on Moriah? Does it wish for coexistence? Respect for religious freedom?

Jordanian
diplomacy made its most significant 2014 win in early November by successfully
lifting the Israeli closure of Al Aqsa Mosque and repelling Israeli aggression [???] on Al Haram Al Sharif...Following
incursions of Israeli security forces into Al Aqsa Mosque, Jordan withdrew its
ambassador to Israel, Walid Obeidat, over violations in East Jerusalem.Parallel
to the escalation of violence in East Jerusalem, King Abdullah led a diplomatic
offensive [???] by contacting influential political centres, efforts..."King
Abdullah and Jordanian diplomacy did their utmost to neutralise Israeli
escalation of violence and incitement at Al Haram Al Sharif, using practical
and diplomatic efforts to curb attempts of right-wing Zionist circles to seize
Muslim shrines," [veteran diplomat and columnist Hasan] Abu Nimah said.

Somehow, I don't think the two leaders are communicating the same message.

And then there's this:

Netanyahu
asserted
Israel’s respect of the Hashemite custodianship of the holy sites in Jerusalem
and the historic role of Jordan, in pursuance of the Jordanian-Israeli peace
agreement, expressing the Israeli government’s commitment not to alter the
status quo at Al Haram Al Sharif and Al Aqsa Mosque.King
Abdullah reiterated Jordan’s rejection of any Israeli measures that may
threaten or undermine the sanctity of the holy mosque, endanger the shrine, or
lead to changing the status quo of the holy site.

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Snapped at 15:20 today.How much does that cost?How many Israelis read Drudgereport?Are they targeting an elite socio-economic sector in Israel?What is going on?____________P.S. Some have noted to me its a Google-placed ad.No difference to my point. When you sign an advertising contract you know where Google, in this case, is going to place your ads. It'll be specified. Why target Drudgereport readers, even if located in Israel only?^

One of the sessions at the upcoming ASOR Annual Meeting which will be held in Atlanta, GA, from November 18th to 21nd, 2015:-

Landscapes of Settlement in the Ancient Near EastChairs: Emily Hammer, University of Chicago; Jesse Casana, University of Arkansas
Description: This session brings together scholars investigating regional-scale problems of settlement history and archaeological landscapes across the ancient Near East. Research presented in the session is linked methodologically through the use of regional survey, satellite remote sensing, geophysics, geoarchaeology, and paleoenvironmental studies to document ancient settlements, communication routes, field systems, irrigation networks, and other evidence of human activity that is inscribed in the landscape. Session participants are especially encouraged to offer analyses of these regional archaeological data that explore political, economic, and cultural aspects of ancient settlement systems as well as their dynamic interaction with the natural environment.

So, "settlements" is, perhaps, not that pejorative a term?Or is it only when Jews are involved that somehow, those "settlements" become illegal, noxious, 'terror', unhelpful, etc.?In any case, who wants to wait around for another 2000 years to find out what future academics will think of Shiloh, etc.?^

...on Saturday, 31 January 2015, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian boy and wounded and arrested another one in Burin village, south of Nablus. According to PCHR's investigations and eyewitnesses' accounts, Israeli forces could have used less lethal means against the boy as they did with his friend.According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 18:20 on Saturday, 31 January 2015, a number of Palestinian boys from Burin village, south of Nablus, went to "Yitshar" settlement road, south of Nablus. The boys stopped near the tunnel between Burin village and the adjacent Madama village a few meters away from the aforementioned road and threw Molotov Cocktails at the settlers' cars that were traveling on the road. Israeli soldiers, who ambushed in the area, immediately opened fire at them...PCHR strongly condemns this crime which is part of Israel's policy of using excessive force against Palestinian civilians in disregard for their lives. Furthermore, PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to stop the israeli crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions.

Who is better suited to deal with the key issues of the election campaign?: The rate of Jewish Israelis who think a government headed by Netanyahu is better suited to deal with issues of Israeli security (57.5%) is considerably higher than the rate who view a government headed by Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog as better suited to this task (27%). Similarly, a clear majority of the Jewish public (59%) estimates that the right-wing bloc has a better chance to form the government after the elections than the center-left bloc (27.5%). A segmentation of the Jewish interviewees’ responses to this question shows that among those planning to vote for the right-wing parties, an overwhelming majority are sure that the government will be formed by the right. Among voters for the center-left parties, however, in cases where a majority believes the government will be formed by the parties they plan to vote for, the majority is much smaller (indeed, among the interviewees who are planning to vote for Meretz, we found that the rate of those who expect the next government to be formed by the right-wing bloc is larger than the rate who think it will be formed by the center-left bloc—54% vs. 42% respectively).Indeed, when the question is “Which bloc would you want to form the government after the coming elections?” the gap between the preferences for the two blocs narrows a bit, but here too the right-wing bloc has a clear lead over the center-left bloc (53% prefer the former, 38% the latter).

Monday, February 02, 2015

The tensions over Al Aqsa had accrued over a number of months, as some nationalist Israelis increasingly challenged a decades-old ban on Jewish prayer at the site, revered by Jews as the place where ancient temples once stood. Defiant visits by Israeli activists and politicians pushing for Jewish prayer rights, fierce clashes between Palestinian protesters and the police, and Israeli limitations on the entry of Muslim worshipers to the site all contributed to the recall of the Jordanian ambassador.

That was in a story on the return of Jordan's ambassador to Israel.In there was this but, too:

Jordan is the official custodian of the sacred compound, the location of Al Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. Israel is in charge of security.

This assertion of

Defiant visits

by activists who

challenged a decades-old ban on Jewish prayer at the site

is a bit of what I would call "not exactly".Almost all the Jewish ascenders to the Temple Mount, while they express the hope for the right of freedom of worship which is guaranteed by law, do not engage in prayer, except for less than a dozen instances of such activity over the last two years. And yes, there were 2-3 instances of waving the Israel flag.But the NYTimes is spinning the story ever so slightly yet enough to alter who is wrong and who is in the right.The NYTimes fits its stories to its editorial line.^

There has been flack about the 'Taliban-styled' ladies in the ultra-Orthodox sector.Yesterday, I spotted a mother, two-daughters and an infant in a pushchair.It took some maneuvering and espionage experience fieldwork, but here are the results:

They were walking along Meah Shearim Street, then turned into the main square area and then made a further turn up in the direction of the Meah Shearim central Yeshivah.^

About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.